Washington DC

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia, is the capital of the United States. The city was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital, with Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson choosing the site of the capital so that it was equadistant between the northern and southern states. The city was named in the honor of George Washington, the first President of the United States, and the city became its own independent district, located between Maryland and Virginia along the Potomac River. The centers of the three branches of the US government: executive (the White House), judicial (the Supreme Court), and the legislative branch (US Congress) are all located in the city, as are several national monuments and museums such as the Smithsonian Museum, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II memorial, the Vietnam War memorial, the Korean War memorial, and various other sites. In 2016, the city had a population of 681,170 people, with 48.3% being African-Amerivan, 36.1% white, 10.6% Hispanic, and 4.2% Asian.